In the aftermath of any victory, presidential candidates proclaim a new mandate to move forward on the values of their campaign. Barack Obama will probably be no different, but National Journal's Ron Fournier warns that claiming a mandate after this election would be politically dangerous --- and a fantasy:

Barack Obama won a second term but no mandate. Thanks in part to his own small-bore and brutish campaign, victory guarantees the president nothing more than the headache of building consensus in a gridlocked capital on behalf of a polarized public.

If the president begins his second term under any delusion that voters rubber-stamped his agenda Tuesday night, he is doomed to fail.

Mandates are rarely won on Election Night. They are earned after Inauguration Day by leaders who spend their political capital wisely, taking advantage of events without overreaching. Obama is capable  as evidenced by his first-term success with health care reform. But mandate-building requires humility, a trait not easily associated with him.

The mandate is a myth, said John Altman, associate professor of political science at York College of Pennsylvania. But even if there was such a thing as a mandate, this clearly isnt an election that would produce one.

He pointed to Obamas small margin of victory and the fact that U.S. voters are divided deeply by race, gender, spirituality and party affiliation. You cant claim to be carrying out the will of the people when the populous has little shared will.

Fournier has this most correct in his initial thought. In order to claim a mandate, one has to have run on clear, positive values. The only real takeaway from the Obama campaign was that Mitt Romney was too extreme or too willing to change to be President, which doesn’t leave much of a positive basis for Obama to claim a mandate. The first appearance of even the skeleton of a second-term agenda came 567 days into the campaign, and that consisted of vague pledges to stick to the status quo.

Furthermore, this was the unique re-election where an incumbent President did slightly worse than his first election. Obama lost two states he won, and the popular-vote margin will be narrower on a percentage basis than in 2008. That doesn’t equate to a ringing vote of confidence in Obama’s agenda; in fact, it sounds a bit like a warning that a second term had better produce more than the first.

Perhaps Obama understood that last night. His victory speech didn’t hail a mandate, but instead focused rhetorically on the need for better solutions from everyone across the board. How long will that last? We’ll see, but shortly after his last victory, Obama didn’t hesitate to tell Republicans to get used to the fact that “I won.” Perhaps he learned a lesson from that, but it wouldn’t have come from winning his next election.

“You made your voice heard,” Obama said in his acceptance speech, signaling that he believes the bulk of the country is behind his policies. It’s a sticking point for House Republicans, sure to balk at that.

The same voters who gave Obama four more years in office also elected a divided Congress, sticking with the dynamic that has made it so hard for the president to advance his agenda. Democrats retained control of the Senate; Republicans kept their House majority.

Doesn’t matter. He has the power that’s all that matters to him. He has shown a willingness to disregard the law, bypass Congress and do whatever he thinks is best. His second term will be marked by more of this lawless behavior and I believe to an even greater degree

Obama will get what Obama wants. I don't think the House will have a lot of luck blocking him, and if they try, he will just issue Executive Orders.

There is an expected way that our government should function. There are things the executive branch can do, and there are things that it is not allowed to do. And I think all of that is out the window. Obama will get what Obama wants.

13
posted on 11/07/2012 9:31:43 AM PST
by ClearCase_guy
(Global Warming is a religion, and I don't want to be taxed to pay for a faith that is not mine.)

Perception determines reality in a post-modern world in which there are no absolutes. Obama has whatever mandate the mainstream media says he does. The media will say America wrote him a blank check to do his will, and the GOP will be silenced.

And if anyone thinks that Boner will resist him, I have a bridge to sell him. We won the House again, but there aren’t enough Tea Partiers to control the votes, and most of the Tea Party congressmen are second termers at best, so the usual suspects will reappoint the same tired, corrupt leadership, and there aren’t enough votes to stop them.

The takers who will vote outnumber the makers. This situation won’t improve in the next 4 years. Not only does Obama have a mandate, his successor, a Democrat, will have a mandate too. That is, until the whole thing goes toes up.

He’ll think he does and,as a result,he won’t give a rat’s hindquarters what “bigoted” people say about him or what “biased” polls say about him in a second term.Get ready,boys and girls,to find out what Osama *really* thinks of “the 1%”.

26
posted on 11/07/2012 9:42:34 AM PST
by Gay State Conservative
(Ambassador Stevens Is Dead And The Chevy Volt Is Alive)

Yes. Conversion of the USA to a socialist state and it’s absorption into the Islamic Empire. Sharia soon to follow with legalization of gay marriage (so sharia can be enorced to legally kill Americans) and drug use so that The People are too doped up and apathetic to stop changes to the Constituion - 1st, 2nd, and 4th Amendments which will greatly increase his power base. Installation of New World Order and implementation of the mark of the beast Obamacare implants. All for the good of the people of course...
: )

Seriously, though, anyone who even remotely thinks the guy whose whole campaign boiled down to “Republicans are the devil!” and who shut out Republicans for the last four years is going to be Mr. Bipartisan all of a sudden is a complete idiot. Which means the liberals all do believe it.

29
posted on 11/07/2012 9:46:07 AM PST
by kevkrom
(If a wise man has an argument with a foolish man, the fool only rages or laughs...)

On the other hand, the GOP-D is shell-shocked. Romney was their perfect candidate, and he lost. They are abandoning the idea that they can win with conservative ideas, and are already talking about moving to the left.

The result of this election is a political setup like they have in Europe:

1) a far left party (Democrat)
2) a “conservative” party that is slightly left of center (GOP).

As a practical matter, there will be no major “conservative” party in the USA, just a liberal and a very-liberal party.

I don’t know what to do, or what our answer should be, but we’ve got to start by facing reality. And, the reality is the Reagan revolution (at least at the federal level) died yesterday—and so did the GOP (they just don’t know it yet).

30
posted on 11/07/2012 9:46:51 AM PST
by Brookhaven
(The Democratic Party has become the Beclowning Party)

New blame game in town - "I cannot get anything done with a GOP run obstructionist Congress, thus my use of Executive Orders" Harry Reid's Senate will never be mentioned and we will probably live without a budget for the entire 8 years. The question is - Will Boner allow the debt ceiling to be raised again? IMHO he has to or face the wrath of the media and we all know the GOP does not want to defend this in front of TV cameras, now that Obama has a mandate to raise taxes.

Why 55% should give an elected official significantly greater legitimacy than 50.1% is beyond me.

The greater the margin of victory, the more it signals a public sentiment in favor of the winner and his agenda. With a large enough margin of victory, even minority members of Congress will go along with the President in order to protect their own seats against public backlash back home (at least those who don't have "safe" seats).

35
posted on 11/07/2012 10:04:30 AM PST
by kevkrom
(If a wise man has an argument with a foolish man, the fool only rages or laughs...)

Exactly what I am doing. Turning 62 in December, and have already applied for my SS. Could easily have kept working, but have no desire to support communism. Turned off the satelite TV service a few weeks ago, and my only source of news or communication is the internet.

41
posted on 11/07/2012 10:35:21 AM PST
by Quickgun
(Second Amendment. The only one you can put your hands on.)

The communist newspapers and television outlets will all combine to proclaim that the Great and Mighty 0bama, Saviour of America, has a mandate to do anything and everything that He, in His Omniscience, deems necessary; the Congress and the Courts be damned.

And the slavering, drooling masses glued to their telescreens will parrot it in mindless unison. They will proclaim it double-plus good.

And all who say otherwise are Racis'.

45
posted on 11/07/2012 10:42:42 AM PST
by ArrogantBustard
(Western Civilization is Aborting, Buggering, and Contracepting itself out of existence.)

He has all the “mandate” he wants. He can now rule by fiat. He started openly using that power already and the congress did not object.Some Republicans objected to the purposes of the fiats but they did not object to the president’s right to use them. Ergo, thus and therefore the Constitution and Congress are no longer important parts of our system of government. They now exist only for formality and the illusion that the USA is still a republic. It is not. Analagous to the Romans, we have made the transition from Republic to Empire, or rather, to despotism that may turn out to be empire. This would be true, even if Romney had won. Once the presidency has used fiat successfully it becomes a part of the Presidency. The election passing without Fiat even being an issue of the election ensures that result.

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